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It appears that there is some type of clear coat on the surface of the headlights. Some have reported that this is to keep UV rays from discoloring the lenses. I read the thread where a user polished the plastic lenses to rid them of scratches/clouding. Someone posted there that the plastic itself contained UV blockers, so this clear coat wasn't absolutely necessary.
All of this is relevant to me because the clear coat on my lenses seems to be coming off. At first it looked like something was on the lenses, but upon closer inspection it's definitely something coming off. There are a few patches on each lense that appear to have this problem. I'll take some photos to better illustrate. Has anyone else experienced this? I go pretty easy on my car, and keep it clean. I frequent the wash and wax forum, and practice a lot of the techniques described here. So, I doubt it's because of negligence on my part. I've never polished the lenses either. I always just wash them with the mitt like the rest of the car. The front of my car has a few rock chips, but is really in pretty good shape... so I don't think this is a result of debris damaging the clear coat.
No matter what caused it I'm faced with the dilemma of removal. I know I could always polish the lenses, but I'm wondering if maybe this could be a warranty item. If I take it to the dealer and they see how nice the rest of the car is cared for then maybe they'll just replace the lenses. I guess it's worth a shot, and then back to polishing as plan B. Does this clear coat failure sound normal though? I haven't heard other owners claiming the same thing.
not likely a clear coat... and not sure what it is either!
have never heard of this before.
pics would help
and maybe someone else has experienced this and can help out.
i wonder if it is some shipping protection that wasnt removed in the dealer prep- its not on my car!
Wanabe, I was hoping you'd chime in. I'll definitely take some pics. At least I'm not the only one that's stumped. It's pretty obvious too... not something you have to examine really closely. I'm pretty sure it isn't some kind of shipping protection... or at least I think so. When I hear "shipping protection" I picture some kind of clear plastic over the lense... and it definitely isn't anything like that.
Here's a photo I took of one of the headlights. The area I'm talking about is cloud shaped and in the middle of this picture. I'm going to try to get some better pictures... I can't get a good angle without there being a glare from the lenses. The other headlight is actually a lot worse. I should clarify a little what I'm seeing here. If I run my finger over it I can't feel a pronounced edge when I go from the affected area to the unaffected area. It's definitely not some kind of shipping wrap that was left on. And it isn't peeling. It doesn't flake off when I rub the edge with my fingernail. It's almost as if something is eating away at the finish of the lenses. Which boggles me, because I've only used car wash soap to clean them with when I wash the rest of the car. I haven't given them any special attention, i.e. polished them at all or used any special cleaner.
OK, here are a few more pictures. These are of the other headlight. Still not the greatest pictures, but hopefully they'll help visualize what I'm dealing with. Click on them and enlarge them to see it better.
I'll probably take a drive over to the dealer tomorrow to see what they think. Hopefully they're not going to claim that I caused it somehow. I'm really scratching my head as to what's going on here. I've never read anything about this happening before.
08-04-2005, 10:13 AM
Clear coat on headlights coming off
